Portable underwater exploring sled and surf board



y 1960 J. w. SZYMCZYK ET AL 2,936,466

PORTABLE UNDERWATER EXPLORING SLED AND SURF BOARD I Filed Jan. 12, 1956 FJ'QJ.

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A TORNEY.

PORTABLE UNDERWATER EXPLORING SLED AND SURF BOARD Joseph W. Szymczyk, Buffalo, Henry L. Dinder, Orchard Park, and Richard P. Blatner, Buifalo, N.Y.

Application January 12, 1956, Serial No. 558,806

4 Claims. (Cl. 9-310) States Patent ment used has largely determined the size of an area which can be quickly and effectively explored, but with the presently available Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus, from which the term Scuba diving was derived, it has been possible to explore larger underwater areas. t

'Ihcprimary object of our invention is to provide a simple and inexpensive readily portable sled adapted to be towed through water and having manually operable combined stabilizing and steering means, whereby a diver equipped with the so-called Scuba diving devices can ride the sled and manually maneuver it is selected directions along and beneaththe surface of a body of water at selected depths, thereby greatly increasing the sizeof anunderwaterarea a diver can explore in a given period of time.

' Anotherobject is to provide such a sled with readily removable combined stabilizing and steering means and a foot rest for the divers feet which when removedallows use of the sled as a surf board.

AllOllhfif object is to provide a simple signal system to conserve storage space and to provide a carrier for sundry parts and accessories of the sled.

These and other objects of our invention will appear from a perusal of the following detailed description and the drawing.

- In the drawing: Figure, l is a top plan view of a presently preferred form of our portable underwater exploring sled which is readily convertible to a surf board. it Figure, 2 is a side elevational view of the sled shown in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a wiring diagram of one form of a suitable signaling system. i i

Figure 4 is an enlarged vertical sectional view taken about on the 'line 4-4 of Figure l and showing a diver Patented May 17, 1960 one end of a section of rope 11, the other ends of which are secured together or to a ring 12 to which one end of a long length of tow rope 13, say 100 to 150 feet, is secured. The other end of the rope 13 is secured to a boat which serves to tow the sled in a body of water.

The sled body 10 may be formed of a single piece but, to allow folding it into a more compact unit for transportation, it is preferably formed of a front section 14, a rear section 15, and an intermediate or center section 16 hingedly connected to the front and rear sections by hinges 17.

The hinged sections 14, 15 and 16 are held in a single plane for use as a sled by strips or rails 18 which extend across the joints contiguous to their side edges and are detachably secured upon their top surfaces by suitable fasteners such as bolts and wing nuts 19, each of which engages the rail and one of the sections.

As shown in Figure 1 the rear bolts pivotally connect the rails to the rear section and the rails are slotted to receive the other bolts, whereby, when the wing nuts are loosened, the rails may be swung outwardly and rearwardly to the dot and dash positions (Figure 1) thereby allowing the sections to be folded into a compact carrier 20 (Figure 5) in which the tow rope and sundry other parts, to be described, may be placed and transported to and from the water area to be explored.

It will be understood that the sleds thus :far described may be used as surf boards in the usual manner, however, to accomplish the primary purpose of this inven-- rotative movements by pairs of clips 27 and their inner ends, being spaced and bent normal to the plane of the fins, serve as handles 26 for manually operating the fins.

It will be apparent that when the sled is being towed along in water with a Scuba equipped diver lying thereupon, he can, by holding the handles rearwardly inclined, position the fins to cause the sled to glide or plane along the Surface of the water to the area to be explored. Thereupon he can move and hold the handles forwardly inclined more or less to cause the sled to glide beneath the surface of the water at a selected angle of glide to a desired depth in said area, and thereafter can move the handles rearwardly to again glide to the surface. In

being towed along or beneath the surface of the water,

operable switch of the signal system partially in section the diver can steer the sled somewhat by simply moving one handle more than the other handle, thereby positioning the fins to cause the sled to bank and veer more or less in the direction of the foremost handle. For example when the right handle is moved forwardly of the left handle the sled will be steered toward the right and when the left handle is moved forwardly of the right handle the sled will be steered toward the left.

, It should be equally apparent that a Scuba equipped diver by using our sled can quickly and effectively explore much larger areas of water than heretofore has been possible.

The clips 27 are preferably formed to allow quick removal of the fins 25 for transporting the sled and for converting it for use as a surf board. Accordingly each clip 27, as shown in Figure 4 has a movable portion 28 hingedly connected to a fixed portion 29 rigidly secured to the sled and is formed with a loop 31 for embracing and rotatably securing the associated rod 26 in place when its bifurcated outer end is swung over a bolt 32 and secured against movement by a thumb-nut 33. By simply removing the thumb-nuts 33 the portion 28 may be swung upwardly to allow removal of the levers and their fins which then may be placed in the carrier 20 for transportation purposes.

It has been found that forward movement of the sled through water tends to slide a diver rearwardly and, for this reason, the rear end of the sled is provided with a transversely disposed bar or tube 35 which is secured thereto and has its ends 36 extended beyond the sides of the sled and inclined upwardly, thus providing a placefor the divers feet to resist his tendency to slide rearwardly. The tube 35 may be rigidly secured in place, however, to accommodate divers of different stature, it is preferably detachable and securable in any of several difierent positions, as by thumb screws 37 which may be passed through holes in the tube and secured into suitable spaced openings 38 in the sled.

The success of some diving operations requires that the diver be able to let the operator know he desires to proceed slowly or to stop and explore a place more or less remote from the sled. For this reason and to promote the safety of the diver and the peace-of-mind of the operator it has been found necessary to provide a two- Way signaling system 40 and to operate it according to a prearranged code. To accomplish this the front end of the sled is provided with a detachable plate 41, one end of which carries an amber light 42, the other end of which carries a red light 43 and the center of which carries a suitable type of recoil drum 44 upon which a suitable length of cable, having two Wires 45 and 46 is wound. Such recoil drum mechanisms are well known and need not be described other than to say that a wound coiled spring is connected to the drum and arranged so that, when any portion of a cable wound upon the drum is unwound, the spring is further Wound and acts to automatically rewind the unwound cable when the force holding the cable unwound is released.

A sleeve-like handle grip 47, being detachably securable upon either of the handles 26 as by a bayonet slot and pin connection 48 (Figure 4), carries a normally closed switch 49 which is openable by a spring actuated finger piece 51.

' One end of the wires 45 and 46 are each operably connected to one terminal of the switch 49 and the other end of the wire 45 is operably connected to the drum 44 which is connected by a wire 55 to one side of a battery 50 carried in the tow boat. The other end of the wire 46 is also operably connected to the drum 44 and is extended to one terminal of the amber light 42. A Wire 56 connects the other light terminal to a hell or buzzer 60 which in turn is connected in series by a wire 56' to the other side of the battery, thus completing a diver operable boat operator signaling circuit of the twoway signaling system 40.

The drum end of the wire 55, which is common to two circuits, is connected by a wire 55' to one terminal of the red light 43, the other terminal of which is connected by a wire 57 to the other side of the battery 50. In order to light the red light 43 the wire 57, within the boat, is provided with a suitable normally open switch 58, thus completing a boat operator operable diver signaling circuit of the signaling system. A tell-tale light 59, connected in series in wire 57, is located in the boat to show the operator whether or not the circuit is working when the switch 58 is closed.

The diver normally grasps the handle 47 in a manner to hold the finger piece 51 depressed, thus opening the switch 49 and its circuit, and it will be apparent that both the diver and the operator by closing and opening their respective switches 49 and 59 can signal and communicate with each other by using a prearranged code of signals.

To promote the safety of the diver in the event he should lose control of the handle 47, due to an injury or other reasons, the switch 49 automatically closes its circuit and causes the buzzer to buzz continuously thus warning the boat operator that something is wrong and that he should act according to a prearranged plan.

To further promote safety for the diver and to facilitate diving operations the sled is provided with a depth gauge 61 and an underwater compass 62 which may be conveniently located on the plate 41 as shown in Figure 1.

The wires 55, 56 and 57 of the signaling system 40 are preferably encased in a single cable 63 which is secured to the tow rope 13 in any suitable manner so that the cable and rope may be readily coiled and stored in the carrier 20 as indicated in Figure 5.

It should be understood that the form of sled shown and described is intended to exemplify the principles of our invention and that various modifications, rearrangements and combinations of the component parts of the sled may be made within the scope of the appended claims, wherein we claim:

1. A portable water exploring sled adapted to be towed end-wise over and through water by a tow rope operably connected to its forward end comprising a flat rectangularly shaped body of a size a diver can lie on; a pair of rods, said rods having their intermediate portions axially alined and extended transversely of the forward end portion of the body, their inner end portions spaced and each extended radially to the intermediate portion to provide a handle portion, and their outer end portions each extended laterally beyond one side of the body and formed to carry a steering and stabilizing fin; clip means for rotatably securing the intermediate portion of each rod to the body; and a steering and stabilizing fin rigidly secured to the outer end portion of each rod whereby when the sled is being towed through water a diver lying upon the sled body may readily grasp and position the handles, thereby to position the fins to cause the sled to move along selected paths on and beneath the surface of the water.

' 2. A portable water exploring sled as set forth in claim 1 wherein the clip means are formed to detachably secure the associated rod to the body, to allow ready re moval of the levers and use of the body as a surf board.

3. A portable water exploring sled as set forth in claim 2 wherein a bar is detachably secured across the rear end portion of the body, said bar being extended laterally beyond the sides of the body to provide a foot rest for the divers feet and being removable together with the rods to allow use of the body as a surf board.

4. A portable water exploring sled as set forth in claim 1 wherein the sled body is formed of front and rear end sections each hingedly connected to an intermediate section for folding movement from the plane of the intermediate section to upright spaced planes whereby the sections when folded provide a carrier for sundry accessories of the sled and facilitate transportation of the sled, and its accessories, and a spaced pair of rails are each pivotally connected to one end section to allow folding the .section and to be extended across and secured to each of the other sections, thereby to maintain the several sections in the same plane for use as a sled or surf board, and each section carries means for releasably securing the rails to the sections.

References Cited in the file of this, patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 642,362 Pfatischer Jan. 30, 1900 1,222,114 McCarty et a1. Apr. 10, 1917 1,608,000 Ranlett Nov. 23, 1926 1,853,159 Welsh Apr. 12, 1932 2,377,442 Osterhoudt June 5, 1945 2,485,446 Jackson Oct. 18, 1949 2,508,071 Martin et a1. May 16, 1950 2,709,266 Munn May 31, 1955 2,722,697 Wilkinson Nov. 8, 1955 2,812,736. Fry Nov. 12, 1957 

